Power Plant Modeling and Simulation

NREL conducts advanced modeling and simulation of geothermal power plants to develop innovative ways of integrating geothermal power into the electricity grid.

Capabilities

NREL's modeling and simulation capabilities offer an efficient approach for plant design, operation optimization, and life-cycle techno-economic assessment.

• Power plant power cycling modeling
  We model binary-fluid power cycles, steam-Rankine cycles, and other advanced power cycles under design and off-design operation conditions. Real power plant operation data have been adopted for the validation of power cycle modeling to improve operational efficiency and market demand matching.

• Flexibility modeling
  We model the technical and economic potential for geothermal power plants to operate flexibly.

• Techno-economic potential analyses
  We analyze the techno-economic potential of power plants under various grid scenarios to help operators meet market demand and maximize their resources.

Flexible Geothermal Generation

Flexible geothermal can help firm the energy system, allowing for imbalance, and provide supplemental reserve and ancillary services such as frequency control and capacity.

Ormat's Puna geothermal facility in Hawaii provides flexible capacity for grid support using automatic generation control. At Puna, the geothermal power plant's conversion of fuel to electricity is completely in the control of the plant operator, and changes to electrical output can occur quickly, with up to 30% of nominal output per minute.  NREL engineers and analysts are looking at innovative new ways to deploy this flexible capability at geothermal plants throughout the U.S.

Resource Hybridization

NREL has investigated the potential to use geothermal during and after the oil/gas production cycle and at other fossil fuel thermal/power generation units. NREL has experience and expertise in developing, optimizing, and assessing hybrid system concepts.

Publications

Global Value Chain and Manufacturing Analysis on Geothermal Power Plant Turbines, Transactions (2017)

View all NREL publications about geothermal research.

Contact